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Madam,

No. XXI.

To Mrs. DUNLOP.

Edinburgh, March 22d, 1787. I read your letter with watery eyes. A little very little while ago, I had scarce a friend but the stubborn pride of my own bosom; now I am distinguished, patronised, befriended by you. Your friendly advices, I will not give them the cold name of criticisms, I receive with reverence. I have made some small alterations in what I before had printed. I have the advice of some very judicious friends among the literati here, but with them I sometimes find it necessary to claim the privilege of thinking for myself. The noble Earl of Glencairn, to whom I owe more than to any man, does me the honour of giving me his strictures his hints, with respect to impropriety or indelicacy, I follow implicitly.

You kindly interest yourself in my future views and prospects there I can give you no light.

It is all

"Dark as was Chaos, ere the infant sun Was roll'd together, or had try'd his beams Athwart the gloom profound."

The appellation of a Scottish bard, is by far my highest pride; to continue to deserve it is my most exalted ambition. Scottish scenes and Scottish

is mistaken in supposing the magistrates of Edinburgh had any share in the transactions respecting the monument erected for Fergusson by our bard; this, it is evident, passed between Burns and the Kirk Session of the Canougate. Neither at Edinburgh, nor any where else, do magistrates usually trouble themselves to inquire how the house of a poor poet is furnished, or how his grave is adorn

ed. E.

story are the themes I could wish to sing. I have no dearer aim than to have it in my power, unplagued with the routine of business, for which heaven knows I am unfit enough, to make leisurely pilgrimages through Caledonia; to sit on the fields of her battles; to wander on the romantie banks of her rivers; and to muse by the stately towers or venerable ruins, once the honoured abodes of her heroes.

But these are all Utopian thoughts: I have dallied long enough with life; 'tis time to be in

I have a fond, an aged mother to care for; and some other bosom ties perhaps equally tender. Where the individual only suffers by the consequences of his own thoughtlessness, indolence, or folly, he may be excusable; nay shining abilities, and some of the nobler virtues may half sanctify a heedless character; but where God and nature have entrusted the welfare of others to his care; where the trust is sacred, and the ties are dear, that man must be far gone in selfishness, or strangely lost to reflection, whom these connexions will not rouse to exertion.

I guess that I shall clear between two and three hundred pounds by my authorship; with that sum I intend, so far as I may be said to have any intention, to return to my old acquaintance, the plough, and, if I meet with a lease by which I can live, to commence farmer. I do not intend to give up poetry: being bred to labour secures me inde pendence, and the muses are my chief, sometimes have been my only, enjoyment. If my practice second my resolution, I shall have principally at heart the serious business of life; but while following my plough, or building up my shocks, I shall cast a leisure glance to that dear, that only feature of my character, which gave me the notice of my country, and the patronage of a Wallace.

Thus, honoured madam, I have given you the bard, his situation, and his views, native as they are in his own bosom.

Madam,

No. XXIL

TO THE SAME.

Edinburgh, 15th April, 1787. There is an affectation of gratitude which I dislike. The periods of Johnson and the pauses of Sterne may hide a selfish heart. For my part, madam, I trust I have too much pride for servility, and too little prudence for selfishness. I have this moment broken open your letter, but

"Rude am I in speech,

And therefore little can I grace my cause
In speaking for myself—"

so I shall not trouble you with any fine speeches and hunted figures. I shall just lay my hand on my heart and say, I hope I shall ever have the truest, the warmest sense of your goodness.

I come abroad, in print, for certain on Wednesday. Your orders I shall punctually attend to; only, by the way, I must tell you that I was paid before for Dr. Moore's and Miss W.'s copies, through the medium of Commissioner Cochrane in this place; but we can settle that when I have the honour of waiting on you.

Dr. Smith was just gone to London, the morn. ing before I received your letter to him.

No. XXIII.

To Dr. MOORE.

Edinburgh, 23d April, 1787.

I received the books and sent the one you mentioned to Mrs. Dunlop. I am ill skilled in beating

* Adam Smith.

the coverts of imagination for metaphors of gratitude. I thank you, sir, for the honour you have done me; and to my latest hour will warmly remember it. To be highly pleased with your book is what I have in common with the world; but to regard these volumes as a mark of the author's friendly esteem, is a still more supreme gratification.

I leave Edinburgh in the course of ten days or a fortnight, and, after a few pilgrimages over some of the classic ground of Caledonia, Cowden Knowes, Banks of Yarrow, Tweed, &c. I shall return to my rural shades, in all likelihood, never more to quit them. I have formed many intimacies and friendships here, but I am afraid they are all of too tender a construetion, to bear carriage a hundred and fifty miles. To the rich, the great, the fashionable, the polite, I have no equivalent to offer; and I am afraid my meteor appearance will by no means entitle me to a settled correspondence with any of you, who are the permanent lights of genius and literature.

My most respectful compliments to Miss W. If once this tangent flight of mine were over, and I were returned to my wonted leisurely motion in my old circle, I may probably endeavour to return her poetic compliment in kind.

No. XXIV.

Extract of a letter

To Mrs. DUNLOP.

Edinburgh, 30th April, 1787.

Your criticisms, madam, I understand very

well, and could have wished to have pleased you better. You are right in your guess that I am not very amenable to counsel. Poets, much my superiors, have so flattered those who possessed the adVol. II.

C

ventitious qualities of wealth and power, that I am determined to flatter no created being, either in prose or verse.

I set as little by princes, lords, clergy, erities, &c. as all these respective gentry do by my bardship. I know what I may expect from the world, by and bye; illiberal abuse, and perhaps contempt uous neglect.

I am happy, madam, that some of my own favourite pieces are distinguished by your particular approbation. For my dream, which has unfortu nately incurred your loyal displeasure, I hope in four weeks, or less, to have the honour of appear ing, at Dunlop, in its defence in person.

No. XXV.

To the REVEREND Dr. HUGH BLAIR.

Lawn-market, Edinburgh, 3d May, 1787.

Reverend and much respected sir,

I leave Edinburgh to-morrow morning, but could not go without troubling you with half a line, sincerely to thank you for the kindness, patronage, and friendship, you have shewn me. I often felt the embarrassment of my singular situation; drawn forth from the veriest shades of life, to the glare of remark; and honoured by the notice of those illustrious names of my country, whose works, while they are applauded to the end of time, will ever instruct and mend the heart. However the meteor-like novelty of my appearance in the world, might attract notice, and honour me with the acquaintance of the permanent lights of genius and literature, those, who are truly benefactors of the immortal nature of man; 1 knew very well, that my utmost merit was far unequal to the task of preserving that character, when once the novelty was over: I had made up my mind, that abuse, or

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